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50 Cal Mowrey

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Gardyloo

32 Cal
Joined
Nov 13, 2022
Messages
9
Reaction score
4
Location
Alaska
Will try my hand at posting some pics here.

I acquired this rifle at a auction a few years ago, It was online, the description was lousy, the price was right and I had no idea what it was other than I liked they way it looked and thought I could hang it over a bear hide I have in my office. I researched some and read what I could find, took it apart and cleaned it, it sat behind the door wafting for some time to hang it up until a couple of months ago.

A fried and I put in for a ML moose hunt every other year here in AK, its a late season hunt from Nov 1 to Dec 15. We were successful 2 years ago hunting with some TC inclines. We have nearly identical firearms, by accident. Mine shoots well, his does not. Its been a struggle getting decent groups with his gun, and we are limited to irons or red dots, no magnification.

Irons and old eyes are not a good combination for these conditions, we discovered the gun shoots quite well..... at paper. And probably would at moose if we one of us could see the rear sight in some fashion. Low light conditions at this late season and aiming at big brown globs makes for poor bullet placement. I feel like the only way to hunt "ethically" with this rife is to improve both sights or primarily the rear sight. I am looking for ideas and considering getting a Marble tang mount peep. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regarding the rifle.
I didn't measure the barrel across the flats, it is 32" in length appears to be in excellent shape, has very few markings other than what I believe is the year 1966 and a 61, which perhaps is serial number as its is etched on the trigger guard and on the bottom of the front sight.. Also 310 is cast inside the box lock. W.L. Mowrey on the barrel, nothing else and I did remove the leather forearm cover to clean and oil the leather.


Seems I read Mr. Mowrey got started in the mid 60's and judging by the 2 digit number I am assuming this is a very early example of his. If so I am somewhat surprised at the wood as I have seen many pictures of some Mowreys with beautiful curly maple.


I look forward to any replies, information, especially ideas in regards to the sights, oh, one other thing I noticed, the buttstock and receiver (for lack of better words) is not aligned with the barrel, it is actually slightly canted off to the left when looking at it from the butt end, I can only assume this was intentional for a right handed shooter.... Rather curious.

Thanks.

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Will try my hand at posting some pics here.

I acquired this rifle at a auction a few years ago, It was online, the description was lousy, the price was right and I had no idea what it was other than I liked they way it looked and thought I could hang it over a bear hide I have in my office. I researched some and read what I could find, took it apart and cleaned it, it sat behind the door wafting for some time to hang it up until a couple of months ago.
...,
Seems I read Mr. Mowrey got started in the mid 60's and judging by the 2 digit number I am assuming this is a very early example of his. If so I am somewhat surprised at the wood as I have seen many pictures of some Mowreys with beautiful curly maple.

You indeed have a Mowrey rifle, which were produced for a while in Olney, Texas. They are a copy of the Allen & Thurber rifles of the 1850’s and 1860’s, which were produced in Worcester, Massachusetts. A rather unique rifle in the era of the caplock, they used a casting to house the action, and a very large casting in the butt of the stock. The lock itself was extremely simple, resulting in a very durable and dependable lock system.

In short..., you dun good. ;)

Here are some photos of an original “deluxe” version (engraved action, etc)

ALLEN and THURBER RIFLE.jpg


LD
 
You did very good! I like those rifles but never managed to get one. Yours is extremely nice for being as old as you found that it is. The "offset" of the barrel and lock along with the butt stock is not an anomaly it's "cast off" built into custom guns mostly but sometimes factory rifles of fine quality. It puts the sights/barrel closer to the eye so a tilt of the head is not necessary to see down the barrel.
 
Thanks all, any suggestions on a peep that might work? I have been looking at Marbles, unfortunately they dont have any info for the base dimension's on line, I probaly need to call them.
 
I had a Mowrey 12 ga. made from a kit way back when. Killed a flying turkey with it (long story). The originals had brass receivers but later were steel. I read that the brass - where the breechplug was part of the brass casting and of course secured the barrel to the action - sometimes broke clean off if gun took a hard knock. That's why they went to steel. My shotgun had WAY too much drop, I had to glue a high maple cheekpiece on so I could shoot it properly.
 
Thanks all, any suggestions on a peep that might work? I have been looking at Marbles, unfortunately they dont have any info for the base dimension's on line, I probaly need to call them.
Marbles company sells a peep sight that should swap out with your current rear sight Marble's Peep Sight

LD
 
I checked the twist rate, or at least have some info as I have never done that before and pretty sure it is twist gain.
I put a 50 cal. brush on the cleaning rod, stuffed it all the way in, pulled it out just enough to get the bristles to flip over, I had already marked the rod at the end of the barrel and again at 1' and 2'.
In the first foot the rod rotated ~ 40-45 degrees and ~ 60 degrees in the last foot.

what would the twist be?
 
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Nice rifle , I always wanted one of these .
When looking from the back of the gun, a cast-off stock will show the center of the butt slightly right of the center of the sight line. The opposite is true of a cast-on stock. Cast is intended to allow a shooter to look straight down the sights , so a cast-off stock is meant for a right-handed person and a cast-on stock for a leftie
 
I checked the twist rate, or at least have some info as I have never done that before and pretty sure it is twist gain.
I put a 50 cal. brush on the cleaning rod, stuffed it all the way in, pulled it out just enough to get the bristles to flip over, I had already marked the rod at the end of the barrel and again at 1' and 2'.
In the first foot the rod rotated ~ 40-45 degrees and ~ 60 degrees in the last foot.

what would the twist be?

I'm not sure what you mean.

..., so a 60° turn at the end of 32 inches is a 1:192 twist rate, then allowing for the breech plug it’s more like a 1:186. 🤯
In a 32" barrel that isn't going to work. Last time I checked you'd need at least a ¼ turn, aka a 90° turn, for the spin to give you any accuracy advantage

A 60% turn at the end of 32” is a twist rate of 1:44, allowing for the room taken by the breech plug, and starts out at around 1:50 for the 40% twist at the breech area. A gain twist should allow the shooter to use a good, load and have good accuracy, without worries. A little more than a ½ turn is common in black powder barrels today. 28" barrels with a 1:48 twist rate, for example.

You might want to take a look, as it might just be a uniform 1:48 for it's full length....

Still a great find.

LD
 
Apparently confused, 40 to 60 degrees indicates how much the rod rotates in reference to a mark on the barrel. I can confirm it rotates less the fist foot than the second.
% is a whole different story..... % of what?
Wouldn't a 1/2 turn in a 28" barrel be 1:56....
 
The way to measure twist is to get your rod and draw a line straight along it with a sharpie , then fit a tight fitting patch ,oiled so it won't get stuck . push this down to the breach , mark the rod, and the muzzle where the line on the rod , these are your start marks . then carefully pull the rod out , allowing the rod to twist freely , if the line on the rod gets back to the start mark on the barrel , that is one full twist , put another mark on the line , remove the rod and measure between the marks on the rod , that is your twist in inches . with a ml barrel the slow twist may mean you have to mark the rod line when it is ½ way around ,ie opposite the start mark . measure that length and double it . If the twist is progressive you can mark the rod line and the muzzle as the twist changes . It is easier than it sounds . the important thing is the rod must be free to twist as you pull it out , a range rod with a ball bearing handle is best .
 
I checked the twist again using a shotgun rod and 12 ga patch with some heavy lube on it.
I started at what I will call the 11 o'clock position, in 1 foot of travel it rotated CW to about the 1:00 o'clock, then at 2 feet in it was at the 4:00 o'clock, at the bottom of the 32" barrel about 5:00.
I would have to say it would take another 30 to 32 inches to make a full revolution, guessing ~ 1:60 twist.
 

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